


Hell on Earth - TWD Season 1

by CassieBaratheon135



Category: The Walking Dead (TV), walking - Fandom
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-18 15:08:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29735745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CassieBaratheon135/pseuds/CassieBaratheon135
Summary: Sarah and Nicolette are two sisters from San Francisco. They were in Atlanta when hell break through... when the world ended. This is their story.
Relationships: Carl Grimes/Original Female Character(s), Daryl Dixon/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 4





	1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1 

NICOLETTE 

“Keep running” Sarah yelled running in front of her “Just keep running, Nicki!” 

How did that happen? 

Just few days back she went to Atlanta with her older sister Sarah for one of Nicki’s archery competitions. 

“Thrilled? For tomorrow?” Asked Sarah as she was unpacking their bags in the hotel room. The competitors and their companions had a full paid hotel room in the center of Atlanta, so that the next day they could start the competition that lasted two days. 

“Not that much” Nicki answered as she was laying on her stomach changing the channels of the TV as she was searching something to watch before going to sleep. 

Sarah snorted “Not that much?” and then she shook her head “I get that this is not your first competition, but are you really not a bit thrilled? Agitated? Happy?” She said “I mean, the first threes will compete at the Nationals!” 

“Disappointed?” Nicki asked turning her head towards her sister who smiled. 

“Just a little bit” Sarah said making her rolled her eyes playfully. 

“Alright” Sarah said “What about the fact that we went here alone, not thrilled for that even?” 

It was true, usually Nicolette went to her competition with her parents. Sarah was finishing university and the few times she could have gone with Nicki their parents were with them. But this time they were busy working and Sarah had some kind of break at university, so she could accompany her. And she had turned 21, so that made her legally able to take care of Nicki. 

“For that I am a bit” Said Nicki nodding her head “You are terrible at orienting that I didn’t think we would have found our way out of the airport” 

“So funny” Sarah said sarcastically. 

“I wasn’t trying to be” Nicki answered back turning to look at her case with her bow locked in it. 

“I just like archery” she said after a moment of silence “Winning is not something that I care about that much, I just have fun” She liked having the bow in her hands, pulling back the arrow and focusing on the target, just that red target. Nothing existed in that moment. It was peaceful and then she would release the arrow which made that buzzing noise against her ear and then it would fly all across the yard. She liked that, she liked that a lot. 

The bed shifted under her as Sarah set down putting a hand on the younger sister’s back. 

“That’s a good way of seeing it” she said making Nicki nod her head, then she heard her sister laugh a bit “But be careful not to smile that much” she said sarcastically. 

Sarah always teased her for her being a very silent girl. Nicki wasn’t very good at expressing herself, it wasn’t that she didn’t want to or that she didn’t like people, it was just that when she didn’t have anything useful to say she rather shut up. 

“I do smile” she protested before throwing a pillow at her sister right in the face. Sarah’s brown hair were all messed up as she looked at her with wide eyes before grubbing a pillow and hitting Nicki with it with aloud laugh. 

Sarah had always loved to smile; she liked to smile and have fun and she was even really goofy. Sometimes she would talk to Nicki for hours at the phone and Nicki liked you listening to her. She was so inventive, it was like Sarah had always something to tell, she was a real storyteller while Nicki preferred to listen. 

‘The situation is not improving. Many more people had fallen ill inside the hospitals that right now started to have entire departments had been assigned as quarantine to contain the infection” 

The two sisters stopped their fight as they heard the news. It has been weeks now. A strange infection started in some hospitals and it was beginning to become a serious matter. But as serious at it sound, it wasn’t really clear what was happening. 

“What kind of disease is that?” Nicki asked turning to her sister that had a frown on her face. 

“No one really knows” Sarah answered deep in thoughts “Apparently is some kind of fever, but many people have been in quarantine for weeks now” Nicki studied her sister’s face, she was listening to every word was being said. 

“You are dying to know” at her words Sarah looked at her with her big brown eyes. 

“Of course, I am” so curious, and she wasn’t even studying Medicine, she was simply curious. 

“But they will contain it, right?” Nicki asked “I mean, it’s 21th century, we can survive a disease” 

How wrong she had been… 

As Nicki ran through the alleys of Atlanta, she couldn’t believe that just a few hours back she had woken up in a bed and starting to get ready to go to the airport. They were stuck in the traffic when it began. The cars hadn’t been moving for hours, Nicki was sure she had even slept at some point, while Sarah tried to call their parents. 

“Strange” Sarah said looking at the screen “It’s not even ringing” 

“Maybe they went to aunt Katie” Nicki said rubbing her eyes. Where their aunt lived it was impossible to talk on the phone. 

“Have we moved yet?” She asked. 

“Not one a bit” Sarah said putting away her phone. They had taken a cub to go to the airport, they were still in Atlanta and they haven’t moved in two hours. 

“We are never going to make it” Nicki said rubbing her left eye tiredly, looking over her sister who still had the phone in her hand. 

Nicki frowned a little “Nothing yet?” 

“No...” Sarah muttered before looking out of the window “Maybe this situation is just influencing me… I don’t know…” she forced a little smile, but Nicki knew when her sister was worried. It was unspoken but they always could tell when something was wrong with the other. 

“Do you want a cookie?” Nicki asked suddenly, after taking a breath. 

Sarah smiled truly nodding her head, but in her eyes the worry was still there, it wouldn’t go away until they wouldn’t have heard something from their parents. 

They’re fine... for sure… Nicki thought before moving to her bag from her shoulders. But as she had it in her hands a sudden noise rang in her ear before a force made her body move forward almost knocking her head on the glass in front of her, if she didn’t have put her hands up, she would surely have a bruise now. 

“Oh my God” she could hear Sarah say before she felt hands on her arm “Nicolette, are you ok?” the crushing noise was still in her head, giving her slight headache. 

“Why don’t you ever put your belt on?” Sarah asked in frustration, making Nicki nod even if she didn’t know exactly why she was doing that. 

“What happened?” asked Nicki and frowned when she didn’t see the driver anymore, but as she looked up, she saw the front of the car destroyed. They had crushed against the one in front of them. 

“Even at the back” said Sarah incredulously. But how? They were going so slow. From outside they could hear the driver yelling at a man, screaming that in was not possible that something like that happened. 

“Someone got hit by the car, it’s still under it” at those words the two girls looked at each other before curiosity get them and both of them opened the doors. She wasn’t going to get any closer, but Nicki wanted to know if that person was alright. 

“The ambulance will never get here” muttered Nicki looking at all the cars behind them. From a couple of cars ahead to many behind them they all have crushed. 

“It’s moving” they heard and Nicki could see her sister got on the tip of her toes to get a glimpse of what was happening, but suddenly a scream cut the air, making the girls jump. 

“He bit me!” then another painful scream could be heard making Nicki shiver “Help! Please!” 

Suddenly people started to run, as the man still cried for help. More and more people were starting to run their way. 

“Oh my God! What is that? What is it?!” someone else screamed as someone from the front yelled. 

“People are biting everyone!” what did that mean? 

“They are coming this way!” 

“He killed him!” killed? Who had been killed? Who was killing? They were in the street, in the middle of the day, what was happening? 

Screams and cries could be heard and Nicki looked at her Sarah with fear and confusion in her eyes. 

“Nicki!” Screamed Sarah as someone run over the younger sister almost making her fall on the ground. 

“Run! There are more!” everyone was screaming and Nicki had to do her best to not let someone run over her. 

“Stay there” screamed Sarah “I’m coming” as someone bumped into Nicki again making her hit her back on the side of the car. It was like she wasn’t even there as people kept running. They were leaving their cars to run away screaming. Someone had shirts dirty, or scratches, by any second every person was hurt more and more. 

“Nicki!” the girl turned to her sister who had climbed up the car to get to her sister “Are you ok?” Sarah asked keeping her close to not let people hurt her. 

“What’s going on?” asked Nicki, looking around. 

“It bit me!” a man walked past them, with a giant red bloody bite on his cheek. 

Suddenly a growl could be heard and some strange figures started to walk towards their way, they weren’t fast, but they were walking strangely. Making strange sounds. Their skin was greyish and their eyes were almost black, it could have been seen even from where Nicki was. 

But what made them scream in fear was seeing one of those men assault the taxi driver at the neck. Blood run out from the bite and more the man tried to free himself more that thing clanged on him and soon even other two did the same. They were eating him. 

“Let’s go!” said Sarah pushing her sister “Come on, Nicki run!” they made a few steps when Nicolette stopped, making Sarah look at her in fear. 

“My bow!” 

“There’s no time” exclaimed Sarah taking her sister hand, looking at those things walking closer and closer “Come on” she repeated pulling her away with her. Nicki followed her sister as more screams could be heard from everywhere. 

What was happening? Who were those people? Did they just kill? The screams of the driver still in her head and the vision of his blood printed in her eyes. Did they just saw someone die? 

A scream come from in front of them, making them stop. Sarah hold her sister close trying to figure out form where they were coming. People were starting to run back towards them. 

“No” muttered Sarah “No! There are more that way” she said as people ran by “Don’t!” but nothing, everyone just passed by and more screams could be heard everywhere. 

“Sarah” said Nicki pulling at her sister’s hand “What do we do?” 

Sarah looked around with wide eyes, keeping hearing the screams. 

“We… we need to move away” she said finally looking down at Nicki “Get away from the street” then she started to run again pulling Nicki with her. They ran through the cars, doing their best to keep avoiding people. 

The screams where everywhere and the only thing Nicolette could think what just what is happening? 

Finally, they managed to get away from the road, running towards an alley not that far. 

“What is it? What’s going on?” Sarah didn’t answer she just looked around “Sarah!” 

“I don’t know, I don’t know” Sarah exclaimed with a trembling voice. Nicki was breathing hard but she wasn’t sure it was just for the running. She could still see all that blood; her hands were shaking and she could see that even Sarah’s were. 

Suddenly a growl was heard and Sarah pushed Nicki at the ground behind a dumpster. Growling, they were much more than before. Strange breathing and sounds. Nicki tried to take a look, doing her best to not been seen and suddenly she could see more and more of those strange people. 

“What are they?” she whispered, unable to get her eyes from those sight. 

“Oh my God” said Sarah “Are those corps?” 

Nicki looked at her sister in disbelief “But they are moving” 

Sarah eyed her sister, probably understanding that her words didn’t make any sense. 

“We have to find a place to hide” said Sarah after a moment “Here we’d be at risk. Those things are attacking everyone” Nicki nodded her head while a shiver ran down her spine every time, she could hear another scream. 

“Wherever you want to go” said Nicki “We can’t use the road” Sarah bit her lip trying to find the best way to find a shelter. They didn’t have a lot of time, by the minute those things became more and more. 

Sarah continued to bit her lip, she always did that when she was deep thinking, but her shaking hands gave away that she didn’t have figure out the right choice to make. Nicki observed her as she heard more growling from the road, not that far from them. 

“Maybe we could call the police” suggested the younger one moving to take her sister’ She looked down at herself to take the phone, but at that she growled. 

“I forgot it on the taxi” she said closing her eyes. Nicki’s eyes looked for Sarah’s purse but that wasn’t there and Nicki didn’t have it in her backpack; it still was in the suitcase, she hadn’t even turn it on, since she would have to turn it down once on the plain. 

“Ok” said Sarah taking Nicki’s shoulders in her hands “We’ll use the alleys, we can find another way” she didn’t seem sure of her words, but there was nothing else they could have done, so Nicki nodded. 

The two sisters got up carefully, trying not to make much noise. Nicki looked behind herself and her eyes widened at how many of those people were walking in the road. 

“Come, Nicki” whispered Sarah starting to walk inside the alley, letting Nicki walk ahead of her, probably to make sure none of those things was following them. 

Nicolette didn’t know where they were going. The both of them never walked in street like those. And the fact that they kept changing way as they heard growling wasn’t helping. 

“Sarah, you know we are going to get lost” Nicki said as they kept walking. 

“Oh, I’m sure of it” Sarah said looking behind them “Now, we just need to keep away from those... those...” what were those things exactly? Were they people? Were they monsters? What was happening? 

Sarah turned her head as screams could be heard from behind them. Fast steps echoed in the alleys as the sound was any second closer. 

“Are those... things...?” Asked Nicki, not really sure where to look. 

“I don’t know” said Sarah looking behind them “Just... keep moving” they walked for a few minutes, but screams and steps were closer and closer. What was going to happened? They way those people had attacked the taxi driver, the way everyone was screaming... how would they have protected themselves if they would show up. 

“Run!” someone screamed ahead of them. And after a moment a man run in their direction from the front “They are here!” he yelled “Oh God, they are here!” suddenly some of those creatures turned the corner. 

They were there, in front of them and they could not go back. 

“Sarah...” Nicki said as she saw them approach. 

“We have to run!” the man yelled towards Sarah. 

“They were coming from the other way too” she argued “You run there, and you will cross path with them” 

“We are going to die, girl!” the man yelled in her face and at those words Nicki saw her sister looking at her. She was scared, but there was determination in her eyes. 

“We are not” she said strongly, starting to look between the creatures and what was around them “They are slow... there must be something we can use” Nicki nodded at her sister; she didn’t want to be eaten by those monsters. 

“And what would you do?” the man asked. 

“I need to think” Sarah said. She would find a way, Nicki was sure, Sarah had always been good at hide and seek, finding all the right and smart places to hide. 

“Ok...” said Nicki as those things moved closer. Sarah had to think, and she had to do something, like throwing stuff. 

“Dude, help me” Nicki said nudging the man. She saw some restaurant trash cans, so she first took its cover and throw it like a freebie, hitting one of those things on the chest, making it growl and stumble against a couple behind it. Even the dude had thrown a garbage bag at one of them that fall on the ground. As it fell the one behind him kept walking like nothing happened and they too fall on the ground, growling. 

“They just keep walking” Said Sarah “We have to barricade” 

“Barricade?” Asked Nicki throwing a trash can at the monsters. 

“I’m not sure they can move like a normal person” said Sarah as she started to try and move a dumpster to let a side lean on the wall. It wasn’t that far from the wall, but she tried to moved it more on the right. 

“Help her” said Nicki as she just kept throwing stuff at the monsters. The man ran to help Sarah move the dumpster. 

“You could just push in to the wall” he argued. 

“No” she shook her head “I need it here” she said as she finally pushed it where she wanted before running to the other “Come on!” she said as she pushed with the man the other so that they could be shielded by the dumpsters. 

The things were getting closer and soon they would have been too close to Nicki so that she could have avoided them. 

Now that they were close, Nicki could see them better. They were human... they had a human form, but they really seemed like corpses. 

“They can’t be zombies...” Nicki breathed out before hearing Sarah yell. 

“Nicki come here!” she cried as they had been almost able to get the two dumpsters close. One of those zombies had been that close that almost touched Nicki who jumped back with a yelp before running to her sister who was pulling the corner of the dumpster as the man was on the other side pulling. 

Nicki entered the save zone Sarah was creating, and she leaned her back against the brick wall, looking at her sister. 

“Hurry up!” Sarah said at the man, that moved to pass between the dumpsters but got taken by the arm by one of those things. 

“No!” Sarah yelled as the man started to cry in fear. Nicki rushed to her sister trying to help her as Sarah was trying to grab the man “Take my hand!” she begged, but as Nicki looked one of those things bite the man on the neck. Sarah let out a cry as Nicki could just look at the blood covering the yelling men, who was crying tears of pain and despair. And more time passed more attacked him as he fell on the ground followed by the monsters. 

“Sarah...” muttered Nicki as she saw a few tears running down her sister’s face, before Sarah started to pull the dumpster closer until just a gap could be left in front of them. The cries of the man could still be heard as the two girls’ backs leaned against the wall. 

Sarah’s hands were shaking and Nicki had to cover her ears to stop the screams to reach her head. They stood like that for none of them knew how long, like that in silence just listening to growling, not able to forget what they had just seen. That man had died and those things were out there, not moving. Some of them have noticed the two girls and started to push against the dumpster. It could go, but not forever. Soon they would have break through. 

“Are we going to die?” asked Nicki as she kept looking ahead of her, to the monster whose arm was between the gap. Sarah was taking deep breaths, as her brown hair fall in front of her face. Nicki didn’t want for her to answer, she knew what was going to happen. They would have died, and what really bothered Nicki was not the dying itself. It was scary of course, but the pain... the fear... 

“I don’t want to die like this” she said involuntary out loud. 

She could hear Sarah take a breath as the dumpster started to move slightly. 

“And you won’t” she said getting up, her voice still a bit shaken but she had the courage to move, looking up. 

“I wanted these dumpsters here, for that” she said pointing at the wall, not so far from the dumpsters. 

“If we could climb there, maybe we can manage to climb those stairs” Above them there were the building fire escape stairs. They were made of iron, but they weren’t long enough to touch the ground. 

“This is the closest we could be” Sarah said drying the last tear she had on her cheeks. 

They could do it. They just had to climb the dumpster, try to jump towards the top of the wall in front of them and try to reach the stairs. 

“Maybe they can’t climb, they seem like to just walk straight ahead” Sarah said as the dumpsters, started to move a little. Soon they would have been there. 

“Watch out!” a voice called from above them as the iron stair fall closer to them. The two girls looked up, to see a boy with a hat keeping the stair steady. 

“Come on” he said “Climb up” Nicki looked at her sister who blinked her brown eyes before pushing her to climb the dumpster. Now the stair was so close that from the top of the dumpster they could reach it and climb up. 

Nicki went first, and as she was pushed up by Sarah, she could see the group of monsters that were waiting for them so that they could eat them as they had done with that man. She didn't look for long, she turned and helped to pull her sister up the dumpster. Sarah had been right, they couldn’t climb. Then they reached the stairs and started to climb up until they arrived to the top. 

“I got you, I got you” said the boy as he helped Nicki on the iron balcony “You ok?” he asked, making her nod, before he moved to help Sarah up. He was a young Asian boy, maybe a bit older than Sarah. He was wearing a baseball black t-shirt and a baseball cap; a backpack was on his back. 

“Are you ok?” asked to Sarah who nodded her head before looking at him. 

“Thank you...” she said breathing in and out to calm herself. 

“No problem” he said with a kind voice “Seen you in trouble, had to do something” 

“You help us a lot” Sarah said with a little smile. 

“I... I am Sarah” she said before turning to her sister “This is Nicki, my little sister” Nicki nodded her head towards the boy. 

“Hi...” he said “I’m Glenn”


	2. Chapter 2

SARAH 

Two weeks. 

Sarah was sure that it had been two weeks since that day. The day that has changed everybody’s world. 

Glenn had saved Sarah and her little sister Nicki and from that moment they never speared, and Sarah was glad of that. They were stuck in a different state with no possibility of coming back home. The two girls were from San Francisco and without a plane it would have been a long trip to go back. Moreover, she had no possibility of calling her parents, she didn’t know if they were alive and well. That really broke her heart. No one seemed to have a cellphone anymore and even if they had it didn’t work and that didn’t reassure her one bit. 

“Morning” said Glenn entering their tent with some blueberries on a napkin. 

Glenn was a little bit older than Sarah and he was working in Atlanta as a pizza’s deliverer. He knew the city very well, most importantly he knew how to move around it. It had only been thanks to him that they had been able to escape, all the three of them alive. 

“Thank you, Glenn” Sarah said stretching her back getting fully awake before taking the blueberries in her hands. 

“Have you eaten?” Glenn nodded at her question. 

“Nicki and I got up a few hours ago” he said fixing his hair before putting his baseball cap back on his head “She said she wanted to be outside” 

“Is she near?” Sarah asked glancing outside trying to get a glimpse of her sister. 

“Yeah, yeah” he said nodding his head “She is sitting a few meters away, just looking at the others” 

Nicki was a very silent girl, some people even had described her as cold and maybe she was a bit, but mostly Nicolette liked to observe, she felt more comfortable like that, getting used of what was around her. And right now, it could just get worse; because of the situation and because of the new people. 

Sarah, Nicki and Glenn had been running for miles after they got out from Atlanta, but they had been far too scared to feel tired. The imagine of that man in the alley be eaten alive was printed in Sarah’s mind, and she was really hoping that Nicki hadn’t seen any of that. Nicki was just fourteen... 

The three of them had walked in the woods until they had felt safe enough to stop. 

“What is happening? My god” Sarah had asked out loud as she found herself sitting on the ground, taking long breaths to calm down her reaching heart. 

“No idea” Glenn had answered on his knees panting “It’s like a horror movie”. 

He was right; that didn’t feel real, nothing of that could have been be real. Nor whatever was happening, nor the blood on their clothes and skin. 

“Thank you” Sarah had said “You saved our lives” 

Glenn smiled weakly “You could have managed” 

Sarah found herself chuckling as tears ran down her cheeks “If there’s something I’m really bad at is orienting myself” she leaned her back against the bank of the tree, feeling just in that moment how sore her legs were, how badly her hands were shaking “I get lost always, it’s like a superpower of mine” she chuckled sadly thinking of what could have happened to her sister if she had to try and lead them out of Atlanta... they would have not made it. Nicki wouldn’t have made it. And that thought made Sarah tremble before she looked up to the young man in front of her: 

“You saved us, so thank you”. 

“Don’t mention it” Glenn said trying to be supportive, making the girl nod her head. 

“They are getting stuffed, over there” Sarah heard Nicki say as the younger girl was standing up, looking at the lights coming from the road. 

“People...” muttered Sarah looking over to Glenn who seemed surprised and relieves as much as herself. 

“Are they trying to get to Atlanta?” Nicki whispered with wide eyes. 

Sarah was immediately on her feet; if those people would have reached Atlanta, they would have run towards a trap. The city was full of those monsters. They would have all died. 

“We have to warn them” she had said as she started to walk towards the lights. 

“Sarah, wait!” she had heard Nicki exclaim as she and Glenn followed her. 

As the three of them made it to the road, people were outside of their cars. It must have been hours that they had been stuck on that road. It was night time now... 

“Hey” a man’s voice made them turn “Are you alright?” 

He was and older man, maybe around his sixties. He had white beard, a fisherman’s hat on his head and he was wearing a Hawaiian shirt. 

“Are you alright?” he asked again with a worried tone. 

“We have to get away from here” said Sarah walking closer to the man “You can’t go to Atlanta, it’s not safe” 

“Have you been attacked?” asked the man putting a hand on her shoulder and the girl couldn’t help some tears from ran down her cheeks again. She felt so much comfort in that simple touch. 

“We were in Atlanta” said Glenn walking closer with Nicolette, who just observed the man “It’s bad there, very bad” Glenn kept say. 

“We all have to go back” Sarah insisted nodding her head. 

The man looked at them with worry in his eyes and he soon patted Sarah’s shoulder again. 

“You... you don’t have to worry” he said “On the radio they said that help is coming” 

“Help?” asked Nicolette with a frown. 

The man nodded his head “Yeah, military are coming” 

Sarah looked back at Glenn blinking her eyes in confusion. Military... what could they do? They city was in ruin; people were in panic or dying and it had happened hours before. 

“Do you know what is happening?” said Nicki to the man. But before he could answer they heard a faint noise getting closer. 

“What is it?” asked Sarah looking around afraid that those monsters could come out and kill someone else. But as the sound come closer, they all looked up to the sky. 

“Helicopters?” Glenn said as three helicopters flied over their heads. 

Sarah and Glenn looked at each other before they started to follow wherever the helicopters were going. Nicki was running closer looking up too as the two of them were doing. But what they witnessed as they arrived on the top of a hill, was Atlanta burning as the military were dropping bombs wherever they could. 

“Was that the help?” Nicolette said as she looked at the burning buildings. 

Since then, they had to find a place to live. The man they had meet, Dale, had a camper and he was travelling alone so he had offered them shelter. But they hadn’t traveled far. Soon they had met other people and they had decided to camp in a quarry, where they could have had water to drink and woods for the fire. Atlanta wasn’t too far from them, but it was far enough to be safe from those monsters. 

“Do you need help with anything today?” Asked Sarah as she got out from the camping tent with Glenn. 

“Shane said that we should take shifts to be sure none of the walkers get too close” he said as they walked near each other. 

Shane Walsh was a cop. They had met each other the day after their encounter with Dale. Shane wasn’t travelling alone; he was with a woman, a friend of his, named Lori Grimes and her son, Carl. They had soon decided to stick together, since no one really knew what to do and being alone hadn’t felt right. 

“Oh, alright” Sarah said nodding her head “Do I have a shift?” 

“Erm... not that I know of” Glenn said with uncertainty “But I’m sure Lori needs help with something” Sarah raised her eyebrows. 

“Oh, I get it” she said rolling playfully her eyes “The world is ending and you boys all men up and become over protective” 

“Don’t get offended” Glenn said with a worried tone, but that just made her chuckle. 

“Not at all” she reassured him “I’m sure I’ll find something to do and...” she lowered her voice “If I have to be honest, I really don’t want to see those things any time soon” Glenn smiled at her before waving and walking away. 

Sarah looked around; it seemed as if they were a camping group. Tents were all around and a camp fire had been set in the middle. Woods were all around them and a big lake could have been seen from the cliff. And around her all different kind of people, with different backgrounds and stories... It would have been nice if nothing had happened. 

“Morning, Sarah” the girl turned to see Amy greet her with a smile. Amy was around Sarah’s age, she had blond hair and blue eyes and she was always smiling. It had been easy for the two of them to get along almost immediately. 

“Hey” Sarah waved. 

“What can we do today?” she huffed looking around “It’s like living the same day everyday” 

Amy was right. It wasn’t easy to get used to that life, with nothing to do, no school, no work, nothing that you were used to... now everything that they did was cooking, washing cloths and wonder if things will ever get back normal. 

“We should try not to get depressed” said Sarah with a small smile, making Amy nod. 

“Maybe Andrea and I could find something to fish with” 

“You know how to do that?” asked Sarah with curiosity. 

“Oh yeah” Amy said “Our father taught us since when we were little” Amy and Andrea were sisters. Andrea was the older one and she really seemed a strong woman. 

“Amazing” Sarah said making Amy smile wide. 

“At least we wouldn’t have to depend on those people anymore” Amy gestured to the side of the camp where the Dixons brother had set their camp. They were two men, they talked with a strong south accent and everyone thought they were quite scary. Merle the older one was annoying and nasty, Sarah really felt very uneasy every time he was around. It was frequent for him to pick a fight with Shane or angered T-dog with his racist's comments. Daryl, the other one, on the contrary never talked and really preferred to be on his own. He just glared at everyone and growl sometimes. He usually stood by his brother’s side and even if he was far less annoying, he was quite scary too. No one liked them in the camp, but the two of them were able to hunt and they always brought back food to the group... so they could not lose them... 

“Do you want to play?” Sarah turned as she heard a girl’s voice. Not far from her she saw Nicki sitting on the ground and Sophia standing in front of her. 

Sophia was some years younger than Nicki and she was Carol and Ed’s daughter. Sarah had never talked to Ed, but she had sometimes with Carol. The woman was quiet and she always volunteer on washing people clothes. 

“No” Nicki simply said. 

“I knew she would say that” Carl rolled his eyes “Come on, Sophia” 

The two children ran to play as Lori told them not to get far and Sarah excused herself from Amy to walk to her sister. 

“Nicolette” she said making the girl scroll her shoulders. 

“What?” she said “I don’t have fun running up and down the hill” 

“You could try and make friends with them” Sarah suggested, but Nicki just moved her shoulders again. 

“I know it’s not easy” Sarah said sitting next to Nicki “But we’ll find a way to get back to San Francisco” 

“Yeah, of course” scoffed Nicki “We’ll never get back...” 

Sarah looked at her sister with sadness. She really felt useless in that situation. What could she say to make things better? They were far away from home, not knowing how their family and friends were. Where they were. If they were alive. 

“You need to keep your mind busy, Nicki” she tried to suggest. 

“I lost my bow” Nicolette whispered. 

They had left it inside the taxi in Atlanta. 

Sarah really didn’t know what to do and when Nicki got up to walk away Sarah ran her finger through her brown hair taking a breath. There was really nothing she could do now. 

“Kids, right?” She turned to see Lori “I dread the day Carl will be her age” 

“It didn’t seem so bad when you are one” said Sarah “What should I do?” 

“Leave her be for now” Lori said “It’s difficult for everyone... let her cope” Sarah nodded her head with a little smile, but she was still worried. 

She sat down on the ground trying to get rid of the dinner of the night before. Dale and Morales had some canned food and they had eaten it with some meat Daryl and Merle. 

She took one of the cans in her hands to put it in an old bag so that she could put them away so that no one would stemple on them. She would have never believed a few weeks back that she would have ended up like that, far away from home, surrounded by strangers and not being able to communicate with her sister. Sarah tapped her fingers on the metal of the can making a little noise that made Jim, another of their group, turn towards her... 

That metal made a clear noise, not too loud, but it ringed with just one touch. 

“What if...” she muttered taking the bag in her hands as she got up. The movement caused the cans in the bag to clash together. 

Sarah walked towards Dale who was wearing his usual fisherman hat and the only riffle that they had hanging around his shoulder. 

“Dale” she said shielding her eyes from the sun since she had to look up due to Dale standing on the top of the RV. 

“What is it, Sarah?” he asked sweetly like always. 

“Do you happen to have a wire?” she asked. 

“A wire?” 

Sarah nodded. 

“I think I’ve got an idea” she explained. 

Sarah had followed Dale inside the RV and together they had looked for pieces of wire. They had found some, but they weren’t enough for what she wanted to do. 

“I think that’s all I have” Dale said as she was looking at the wire in her hands “What do you have in mind” 

“I think we should have a safe zone” she said “I want to build an alarm system” 

Sarah had seen how the men of the group were always on the edge to protect everyone, she wanted to try to help them just a bit. 

She looked the wire in her hands, it wasn’t enough. It would have covered maybe two or three sides... she needed more. She had to tight the cans on the wire and then secure them around the trees. 

Sarah started to go around the camp searching for what she needed. Morales’s wife found her another piece of wire and the same did Jacqui. As she was looking inside some bags, Sarah heard footsteps behind her. 

“Look what we got here. Have ya lost somethin’, little bird?” She rolled her eyes at Merle’s Dixon’s mocking voice “I could help you out” 

“I appreciate your concern, but it’s really not necessary” Sarah said getting up. 

“What ya have in mind?” he pushed with his usual nasty grin putting himself in front of her “With all those ropes an’ ev’rythin’ 

“Can you let me through?” she asked looking away from him. 

“Ya’r a sophisticated one, are ya?” he chuckled stepping towards her “Ya can’t stand people like me?” 

“I just need more wire” Sarah said taking a step back, to get away from the man. 

“Merle” the two of them turned to see Daryl, standing a few feet away from them, with his crossbow hanging over his shoulder. 

“Hey, lil’ bro” Merle said “Was havin’ a chat with the lady here” 

“We have to go hunting” Daryl said not even turning to her. 

Merle laughed loudly “Ya’r right, lil’ bro” he said before looking Sarah again “See ya” and then he moved away, making the girl left out a breath. Her heart was beating fast, Merle was a really scary man. He was unpredictable. She was still taking deep breaths as something had been thrown at her feet. 

They were ropes. 

Sarah looked up to see Daryl fixing his crossbow over his shoulder before walking away. The girl observed him with a curious frown. He was a real strange man, but different from his brother somehow.


	3. Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3 

NICOLETTE 

It was a strange feeling the one Nicolette had since hell broke through... She felt confused one moment and the next she felt angry and then bored and then scared and again and again. 

Nicki was feeling stuck. 

She missed her parents and her grandparents, Miss. Tucker, the neighbor that had given her candies since she was a child. She missed even school and that was the point when she realized how depressing all that was. 

Around here there were lots of people, but she had rarely spoken with some of them. Just Glenn. She liked having him around, he was cool. But she really didn’t know how to approach the others... 

She didn’t know what to say. 

They were all trying to make things better; set a camp and trying to live each day, defend themselves and survive. In all honesty she felt stuck even in that... 

She was too young to act like the adults were doing, they always left her outside decisions and meetings. But she was too old to get distracted by running up and down like the other children were doing. 

Nicolette was feeling useless. 

“Hey, what are you up to?” the girl looked up from her spot. The end of her trousers rolled up on her calves and her feet in the water. 

“Nothing, Glenn” she said scrolling her shoulders. Nicolette could feel Glenn’s gaze on her, but she tried to ignore it. 

“We are thinking on going back to Atlanta to gater some stuff” at his words she looked up with a small frown. 

“Really?” Glenn nodded. She had heard Shane and the others talking about trying to find new clothes and something they could use, like more covers or tents and maybe some food too. 

Since they had seen the helicopters bombing the city none of them had gone again, but they couldn’t keep living like that even if going back was dangerous. 

“There’s something that you need?” Glenn asked kneeling next to her. 

Something that she needed... 

“My bow” she muttered looking at the water moving around her ancles. 

“Did you practice archery?” Glenn asked surprised making her nod her head with a smile. 

“That’s why we were here” she said “Before... all of this. I had a competition” 

“Really?” he set down getting comfortable. 

She remembered the sensation of her bow in her hand and the resistance of the string as she pulled the arrow back. Focusing on the target, forgetting about everything else, just the red spot. Taking a calming breath and letting go. Feeling the arrow run past her, it was a marvelous sensation. 

“Nothing worries me when I shoot” she said “I don’t need to talk” 

“You don’t like talking very much, do you?” Glenn asked. 

No, talking wasn’t her favorite thing to do. But unfortunately, that’s how you are able to socialize... and that was a big problem. 

Nicki was no good at making friends and at school it wasn’t easy for her to approach other people. It just seemed that everyone had a lot to talk about... and she didn’t. But when she was shooting, she didn’t need to explain. 

“Sarah usually does the talking” Nicki said scrolling her shoulders, making him chuckle. 

“Yeah, she does” he said before standing up. 

“Who is coming with you?” Nicki asked making Glenn stop on his tracks. 

“Don’t know yet, maybe T-Dog" the girl nodded her head, before turning to the water. 

“Be careful” she said remembering the last time she had been in Atlanta with a shiver. 

Seeing Glenn, Shane and T-Dog leave to find supplies had been really strange, just a few weeks back they would have gone to the supermarket or some mall to find what they were looking for, but now they were going inside a city that was nothing like before. 

Lori was very worried and Jacqui tried to make her think about something else. Andrea was keeping watch with Dale as Sarah and Amy were fixing the alarm system that Nicki’s sister had built. Sarah had always been good with manual things, not that was never needed before, nor in their lives, nor in her school career. Sarah had always loved literature and that was what she was studying in college. She had always been smart. Nicki liked gymnastic the most and music lessons, not very useful during the end of the world. 

The girl walked around the camp, looking up as she heard birds flying over her head. She wondered if they understood what was happening. She wondered if her parents were listening to birds too. She wondered what they were doing. 

Nicki didn’t like the anxiety; she didn’t like it one bit. Not knowing what had happened or what was going to happen. Sometime she would have just liked to run with Morales’ children or play dolls with Sophia. 

“What are you doing?” she turned to see Carl not far away from her. 

Nicki scrolled her shoulders. 

“What does it seem?” she asked. 

“I get it” he said shifting his weight on his other foot “You don’t like us” Nicki frowned. 

“How can I not like you if I don’t even know you?” she asked confused. 

“Why don’t you ever play with us then?” 

It was the first time she had spoken more than two words with Carl Grimes and he surely was a smartass. 

“I’m not really in the mood” she answered turning to leave. 

“So am I” he said “But I’d rather do that than being alone” Nicki looked at him, not really getting what he was at about. 

“Alright” she said before leaving. 

Nicki had never minded being alone. And in that moment, it wasn’t her first concern. 

She walked around for a bit more. That all she did, walk and sitting down. Watching the sky or throwing rocks in the water. 

Everyone seemed to have something to do... she wished they had given something to her too. Her days were endless and boredom hit her sometimes. 

She walked past Andrea and Dale that were chatting and as she walked by, they waved at her making her do the same. Then at some point she found herself near the Dixon’s brothers' tent. They even had a huge motorbike next to their little camp. She wondered who of the two rode it. Nicki had never been on a motorbike even if she loved riding her bike. 

Will she ever ride a bike again? Maybe... but she wondered how much time would have passed and if she would remember how it was done. 

Then she looked down to see some arrows on the ground. Her eyes widened. Nicki knew that Daryl had a crossbow but usually Sarah told her to stay away from the two men, so she hadn’t been able to see closely at those arrows. 

She took one in her hands. They were different from hers. They had orange ends and they were shorter than the one she used. But they were truly beautiful. She was curious about how a crossbow worked, what was the feeling when Daryl used it. 

“What ar ya doin’?” Nicki looked up as a rough hand took the arrow from her hand “Get lost” Daryl exclaimed. 

It was the first time she had heard him say actual words. 

“Stay calm I was just watching” she said as she was still knelt down, looking calmly at the man. There were loads of people around and all of them didn’t quite trust the archer or his brother, so everyone took a close look at them. 

“Mind yar own business, then” he grouted pointing at her with the arrow. 

“Do you have another?” she asked making him frown. 

“What?” 

“Another crossbow?” she said “Or maybe a bow?” he was looking down at her as if she was crazy, but didn’t said anything. 

“Leave it” she said getting up “It’s nothing” 

“Nicolette” Sarah’s voice made the both of them turn “Come here” Nicki looked up at Daryl scrolling her shoulder before taking her leave and walked towards her sister, who didn’t seem pleased at all. 

“What were you doing?” she asked. 

“People are asking me this a lot today” Nicki answered kicking the dirt on the ground. 

“I told you not to go there” 

“It’s a small camp Sarah, I’ll end up there eventually” 

“Don’t be a smartass” Sarah said putting her hands on her hips “Those people are...” 

“Are?” Asked Nicki noticing her sister’s uncertainty. 

“I don’t trust them” Sarah said finally, making Nicki nod her head. 

“It’s not that I trust them” she said “But it’s the first arrow that I could find” she explained “And I know it’s stupid, but I miss it. Shooting is the only thing that had ever helped me” Sarah was looking at her with sad eyes and Nicki didn’t like that. She didn’t want to worry her sister. 

“I won’t go there if you don’t want to” Nicki assured after a moment. She was about to walk towards their tent when Sarah stopped her. 

“You know I want to make it easy for you” Sarah said. Nicki knew. Her sister was taking care of her trying her best to be positive and take her mind away from that situation. 

“And I don’t want for you to worry” Nicki said biting her lip. 

“Then tell me what’s wrong” Sarah said “Even if you think it’s something stupid. We’ve just got each other now” Nicki could see her sister’s eyes fill up with tears. She knew that her worries were the same as her sister’s. 

“I’m just a bit bored that’s all” Nicki said trying to reassure her sister, who didn’t seem to fully believe her, but she let it go for now. 

“Then...” she said drying her eyes “You could help me the next time I’ll try to build something” Nicki observed her sister. 

“That could be nice” 

Sarah needed help too. They needed to stay strong together.


	4. Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4 

NICOLETTE 

“They should be back by now” Nicki heard Amy ask anxiously, looking at the road. 

Glenn, Andrea, T-Dog, Jacqui, Morales and Merle had left for Atlanta that early morning. 

Glenn had already been in the city, he told them that it was full of walkers and it was not easy to move. That was why they had decided to go in so many, to have more chance to defend themselves and to try and take as many things as possible so to not go back in there for a while. 

“I’m sure they’re fine” said Lori putting a hand on the other girl’s shoulder trying to comfort her. 

Amy’s sister was out there, of course she would have grown worried by the minute. 

“Any news, Sarah?” asked Shane suddenly at Nicki’s sister who had in her hands the radio. 

“I wish, Shane” Sarah answered. 

Just few moments before, a man had spoken to them through the radio, catching their frequents. The man said that he was going to Atlanta, Amy tried to warn him not to, but he couldn’t hear her respond. At that point Lori and Shane had a little fight. For Shane in was no use in try to search for other survivors, they couldn’t afford it in that moment. As they went to talk somewhere else Sarah tried again to set the frequency to talk to the man again. Shane took a long breath once he came back, seeing her working on the radio. 

“Let it go then” he said putting his hands on his hips. 

“It’s not like I have better things to do” Sarah answered looking up at him with a smile. 

Nicki chuckled. 

“You won’t let it go, will you?” asked him. 

“Nope” Sarah answered focusing back on the radio. 

If Shane thought of making Sarah change her mind on anything, he was wrong. 

Two hours passed. 

Nicki was sitting on the steps of the RV with one of Dale’s old books, it wasn’t that bad, but Nicki had never read that much in her life. 

Suddenly, an angry groan made her look up from the pages. 

“Given up?” She asked as Sarah set on the ground. 

“Don’t laugh at me please” she said “Not you too” 

“Shane wasn’t laughing at you” Nicki said closing the book before observing her sister who was looking ahead of her at nothing in particular. 

“Do you think I’ve been stupid?” Sarah asked with soft voice. 

“No” said Nicki. 

Thinking of a lone man walking directly inside the city was an awful thought. If she was alone, she would want someone to warn her. Or if her parents were walking into a trap, she’d want someone to try to help them. Maybe it wasn’t much, but it was something. 

“Nicki” Lori’s voice made her look up “Can you take a look at Carl while I’m gone” Nicki looked over the woman’s shoulder to see Carl observing them with a frown. 

“Where are you going?” Asked Sarah. 

“Looking for some more mushrooms with Shane” she said showing them the little basket in her hand “I won’t be long” 

“Alright” Nicki answered with low voice before Lori walked away. 

That had become a habit. Adults always asked for her to take a look at the other children, she was becoming some kind of a babysitter. She would usually sit down, looking at them from time to time, playing, running around or studying. Most of the time they kept doing their own things, they had stopped asking her to join their games. But she could tell that Carl didn’t like very much to be watched over. 

And indeed, as he walked towards her, she was already breaching some comment of his. 

“I don’t need to be watched over” he said. 

“Trust me, I’m not living my best time either” she said coolly “But apparently this is a chore of mine, so resist for some time” Carl took a frustrated breath before going to sit where he was before. 

“You two sure speak a lot” said Sarah with a small laugh, making Nicki scroll her shoulder as she observed Carl. 

The two of them never really spoke, they only did that when the other children were around. 

“I don’t think that the both of us want to talk that much” Nicki said. She had come to know that Carl’s father had died not so long before so he often got quiet. He usually played with Sophia; they had become friends quickly. 

As quick as Sarah and Glenn had become friends. They were always around each other. Nicki had once heard Jacqui talking with Dale, thinking that the two of them could like each other. They were a small group, rumors spread. Rumors that didn’t seem to get noticed by neither Sarah, or Glenn. 

Nicki wondered if it was possible to find love with everything that was happening. She had never liked anyone in that sense. Sarah had had a boyfriend during her last year of high school, but they broke up when they had to leave for college. Nicki couldn’t picture of falling in love in that situation. And suddenly she wondered if she would have ever. She would have to focus on stay alive and keeping her sister alive. That was no time of fairytales. 

“So deep in thoughts” said Sarah “What are you thinking about?” 

“What normality will mean from now on?” she could feel her sister’s eyes on her before she sat down next to Nicki putting a hand around her shoulders. 

“No idea”. 

The more the hours passed the more they grown anxious. Glenn’s group had not come back yet. They all were trying their best to get their mind off of the situation. Sarah walked towards Dale and Jim that seemed always busy on fixing the RV. The two of them were always bent down fumbling with every kind of hardware. 

“Can I help?” asked Sarah with a smile. 

“Don’t worry, dear” said Dale sweetly. 

“Please” said Sarah “I need to focus on something else than them not coming back and I would like to be useful”. 

The two men looked at her for a moment before nodding their heads, making Sarah smile widely. Nicki noticed her tying her brown hair in a ponytail before starting to listen to everything Dale was telling her. 

Nicki smiled observing her sister getting curious, making questions and listening closer to the answers. 

“Nicolette” the girl turned as Shane put a hand on her shoulder “How about I show you how to make a knot?” 

“Really?” Shane nodded his head gesturing towards Carl standing not so far from them. 

“I was about to show, Carl” he said “It could be useful” Nicki looked up at the man with a little smile before nodding her head and following him. 

The three of them were sitting on the ground and she and Carl looked closely at whatever movement Shane was doing with the rope. It was interesting and she was having even fun. Nicki tried to make the knot that didn’t hold and got loose as she pulled the rope. She let out a snort looking at the loosen string hanging from her fingers. Carl laughed too looking at her, but soon he got his knot wrong too. 

“How is it possible?” he complained laughing. 

“He made the right movement” said Nicki trying again. 

“You have to put this part around your finger first” Shane explained. 

“Like this?” Nicki asked Carl as he looked at her rope. 

“I think, maybe higher” Carl suggested. 

As they were getting the hang of it when they heard a voice from the radio. 

“Hello, can anybody hear me?” they all looked towards the radio as Shane got up putting a hand on Carl’s head before going towards the RV, where Dale was already running to get the speaker. 

“It’s T-Dog, anybody can hear me?” Nicki and Sarah looked at each other as they heard those words from the radio. 

Dale answered immediately, but the signal was disturbed. They couldn’t really get what T-Dog was saying. The only word they could understand was ‘trapped’ and ‘department store’. 

“Trapped?” muttered Nicki. 

“He said they’re trapped” said Shane ruffling his hair with his hand. After that they couldn’t hear anything else. Silence fell inside the camp as the only noise they could hear was thunders above their heads. 

Trapped. With those monsters all around. 

“He said department store” said Lori looking at Shane. 

“Can’t we do something?” asked Sarah getting closer to Amy who was pale. 

“No way. We do not go after them” said Shane shaking his head as Lori moved closer to him “We do not risk the rest of the group. You all know that” 

“So, we just going to leave her there?” Amy exclaimed looking Shane with wide eyes. 

“Amy, I know it’s not easy” he begun to explain. 

“She volunteered to go” Amy answered back “To help the rest of us” Sarah and Nicki looked at each other. They understood Amy completely. 

“She knew the risk” Shane said “And if she is trapped, she is gone. We just have to deal with that” 

Nicki wondered how he could do it, remain distant, cold. Easly say that there was no hope for them was rushed. Glenn was there. Their group was out there. Was it really the only thing they could do? Cope for their loss. 

“She is my sister, you son of a bitch!” Amy exclaimed before running away. 

“Shane” said Sarah stepping up “Glenn saved my life and my sister’s. I can’t leave him out there. This is a group; shouldn’t we protect each other?” 

“That’s what I’m doing, Sarah” Shane said to the girl, who bit her lips. 

“I won’t be able to cope with that” she said before running in the direction Amy had went to. 

Glenn had been so kind to them, could she really just cope with his loss without doing nothing? 

But what could she do? 

Nicki was fourteen and had never had to learn to defend herself. How could she help the person that saved her life?’ How could she help Jacqui that always made sure that she had eaten something? Or Morales who had his family waiting for him? Or Andrea? Or T-Dog? 

There was nothing she could do. 

She could just pray that Shane was wrong. That they would have come back. 

It was going to be sun set too and they were all still in waiting. Sarah and Lori had managed to calm Amy down that now was sitting next to RV fixing a shirt. Dale was on watch as Lori was cutting Carl’s hair and talking to Shane. 

“You ok?” Asked Nicki walking closer to her sister. 

“Not so much” she said looking towards Shane “I can’t believe we are going to just keep living, knowing that they are gone” Sarah said as her eyes watered “I can’t do that” 

“I know” Nicki whispered. 

Suddenly they heard a car alarm echoing in the vale. The two sisters looked at each other before running towards the others were gathering. 

“Talk to me, Dale” said Shane looking up at the man standing on the top of the RV with his binoculars. 

“Can’t tell yet” Dale answered. 

“It’s getting closer” said Nicki. The noise was moving fast towards their direction. 

“Is it them?” Asked Amy urgently “Are they back?” 

No one could answer that question even if everyone would want to say the same thing. 

“What is it?” asked Sarah looking up to Dale. 

“Stolen car, that’s my guess” the man answered. 

After a moment a red sportive car turned the corner and came to a stop. The alarm was still going off, it was so loud but they waited to see who was driving it. 

“Oh god” muttered Sarah as Glenn got out from the car. 

Nicki’s lips moved up in a wide smile, not believing that he was alive. 

Sarah ran with the others, but ended up hugging Glenn. 

“Turn that damn thing off!” Dale exclaimed as Glenn who was still in Sarah’s embrace said: 

“I don’t know how” 

In a moment he was surrounded by question as the alarm was still ringing. Nicki didn’t know why, but she couldn’t help but laugh at the scene. 

Shane finally made the alarm go off, by disconnected the battery wires. Amy was asking no stop if Andrea was alright and Sarah wanted to know if Glen was unharmed. 

“She is ok!” he exclaimed to Amy before turning to Sarah “I’m alright. Everybody is” 

“That’s a miracle” muttered Sarah looking over Amy who was smiling brightly. 

“Well...” Glenn said “Maybe Merle not so much” 

“Merle?” asked Sarah with a frown. 

Was Merle Dixon dead? 

“Are you crazy to driving this wailing bastard up here?” exclaimed Shane pissed “Are you trying to draw every walker for miles?” 

“I think we're okay” said Dale.   
“You call being stupid, okay?” Shane was really pissed, but thankfully Dale was able to maintain a calm discussion. 

“Well, the alarm was echoing all over these hills” Walkers seemed to be attracted by noises, but Dale was right, maybe it was not easy to find the source of the noise. 

“It wouldn't hurt you to think things through a little more carefully next time, would it?” Dale then said turning to Glenn who was looking down. 

“Sorry, got a cool car” 

Nicki didn’t care about all of that in that moment especially when the others arrived. Amy ran to Andrea hugging her close. Morales went to his family kissing his wife. T-Dog went to Dale as Sarah embraced Jacqui. 

Nicki noticed Lori leading Carl away from the scene. The boy had tears in his eyes as his mother was talking to him. 

Nicki knew... 

She would have liked to see her parents running to her. She missed them a lot. 

“How did you get out from there, anyway?” asked Shane. 

“New guy” said Glenn “He got us out” 

Nicki frowned. 

A new person? 

So, it was possible to find new people. 

Everyone was surprised in hearing those words. 

“Hey helicopter boy!” Morales shouted. 

A man dressed up as a cop walked down the truck they had just got out from. He seemed exhausted as he moved towards them. But suddenly when he looked up, Nicki noticed his eyes gone wide and slowly filling with tears. 

“Dad!” Carl’s voice made her turn as the boy ran straight to the new guy’s arms that sobbing embraced his son. 

It could not be possible. 

Nicki observed them as they hugged each other close, before the man walked with his son still in his arms to hug Lori too. 

They were together again. It was more than a miracle. 

Nicki couldn’t help but smile looking at them, feeling for the first time that maybe there was still hope. For all of them.


	5. Chapter 5

SARAH 

It had been a very crazy day. Crazy in the best way possible. They were all shocked and happy for Lori and Carl. They were reunited and they had given hope that maybe one day all of them would have seen their loved ones again. 

As they set down around the fire, eating their dinner they have been hearing Rick sharing his experience. 

It must have been very frightening for him; waking up from coma and finding himself inside this hell. It was incredible he made it so far. The man was hugging his son and his wife as he spoke. 

Sarah looked around. Andrea and Amy were close to each other. Morales smiled at his family. Dale was listening at the story with interest as Sarah looked towards Nicki, caressing her hair, and then towards Glenn who was eating. Only Daryl was missing. 

“I felt like I'd been ripped out of my life and put somewhere else” Rick kept saying “For a while I thought I was trapped in some coma dream, something I might not wake up from ever” 

At that Sarah felt like she could relate to. She was sure all of them could say the same thing. It all seemed a nightmare. A nightmare that she wasn’t sure they would have ever woken up from. 

“Mum said you died” Carl spoke quietly as his father ran a finger through his hair. 

“She had every reason to believe that” Rick said. 

Lori was still in shock, of course. She pushed herself closer to her husband before telling him that when things started to get bad the hospital wanted to move Rick in Atlanta, but it never happened and apparently even where they lived walkers had taken over. 

“I can't tell you how grateful I am to you, Shane” said Rick. Sarah looked over the other cop with a little smile. He had taken care of Lori and Carl for all that time. He must have really cared for Rick. 

Suddenly they heard wood clatters and turning they saw the Peletiers around a much big fire that the one they were having. 

Peletiers never ate with the rest of them. Ed didn’t want to. And as Shane got up to make them get the fire down, Sarah looked towards Amy. the two of them had frequently talked about Ed. He was a scary man. A different kind from the Dixon’s brothers. 

“What about Daryl?” asked Sarah as Shane got back, sitting down once again. 

“I was thinking the same thing” said Dale. 

“He doesn’t know what happened” Sarah said looking at everyone. Daryl had gone off the same morning to hunt some meat. He sometime did that, leaving a morning and come back days later. 

“He has the right to know” Sarah muttered. 

It didn’t matter if they were duchebags. Merle was Daryl’s brother. Sarah would have known if something had happened to her sister. Not knowing was worse than anything. She was experiencing it with her parents. If they could give Daryl any explanation, they had to do it. 

“He won't be happy to hear his brother was left behind” Dale kept saying making Sarah nod her head slightly. 

“I'll tell him” said T-Dog “I dropped the key. It's on me.” 

“I cuffed him” Said Rick “That makes it mine” 

“Guys, it's not a competition” intervened Glenn “I don't mean to bring   
race into this, but it might sound better coming from a white guy” 

Merle often had made comments about T-Dog or Jacqui or even Glenn in those days. 

“I did what I did” answered T-Dog “Hell if I'm gonna hide from him” 

“As long as he’ll know” said Sarah. 

It didn’t matter who told him. It was important to tell him. She would have done it, but she wasn’t there. She didn’t know what had happened. 

“Maybe we should lie” Amy suggested making Sarah shook her head. 

“Or tell the truth” said Andrea “Merle was out of control. Something had to be done or he'd have gotten us killed” then she turned to Lori “Your husband did   
what was necessary. And if Merle got left behind, it is nobody's fault but Merle's” 

Sarah could not imagine what could Merle Dixon have done to get himself cuffed on a roof. But they all knew Merle and how he was, it was not difficult to think of him getting the group in trouble. 

“And that’s what we are going to tell Daryl?” asked Dale. 

“If that’s what happened, yes” said Sarah looking at the man “Daryl needs to know what happened, we don’t have to make him like it. He would not anyway” 

Nobody could take it lightly knowing that his own sibling was left behind. 

Sarah wondered what Daryl would have done when he knew it. He would get angry? Would he just have kept quiet? Or would have gone away? 

“We're gonna have our hands full when he gets back from his hunt” said Dale looking at each one of them. 

“I was scared and I ran” said T-Dog “I'm not ashamed of it” 

“We were all scared. We all ran. What's your point?” asked Andrea. They were all looking at T-Dog with curious eyes. 

“I stopped long enough to chain that door. Staircase is narrow. Maybe half a dozen geeks can squeeze against it at any one time. It's not enough to break through that... Not that chain, not that padlock” Sarah looked at him with wide eyes. 

“He is still up there?” asked Nicki earning some gaze turning towards her. T-Dog nodded. 

“Dixon’s alive. On the roof. That’s on us” 

That evening Sarah had difficulties trying to get asleep. She was happy of what had happened that day, but she felt for Daryl. He had his brother that morning... and now no more. There was no easy way to say it. Especially now that they knew Merle was still up there, where they had left him. There was no way to know what Daryl would have done when he got back. There was no way of knowing what the group would have done now. Shane hadn’t let them go rescue the group, he would have never left someone go after Merle Dixon. Not that that would-have stopped Daryl anyway. 

“I’m having a very bad morning” said Glenn the next morning as Sarah was having her breakfast, while Nicki had gone with the kids. Morales had asked her to look after them. 

“Why’s that?” she asked and he looked at her with wide eyes. 

“Look at them” he said pointing at Dale and Jim getting parts of the car. 

“Great, they found the missing pieces they needed” Sarah said rubbing her eyes making him gasp. 

“I’m gonna pretend you had not just said that” 

“Sorry” Sarah said yawning tiredly “I’m not very empathetic when I'm tired” 

“You hadn’t slept cause of the rain?” he asked. 

That night had rain so much, a lot of thunders could be heard roaring. But that was not the reason for her difficult sleeping. 

“Or Merle Dixon?” he asked since she didn’t respond. 

“I just felt strange knowing he is alive stuck on a roof” she said “He is an asshole, but it’s not right to leave him up there” 

“What do you suggest?” asked Glenn eating another blueberry. 

Sarah shook her head not knowing what answer was the right one. All of them seemed terrible to her. 

“We should just wait for Daryl” she said “Then we’ll figure it out” 

Suddenly a scream coming from the woods. Sarah felt her blood ran cold as she got up to run in the direction of the scream. 

“Nicki!” she yelled as she ran “Nicolette!” 

Sarah ran through the woods and she arrived just before the end of the perimeter of their camp, where she had put the alarm system. Just when she arrived, she noticed Lori and Carol behind her. Their children ran from the woods into their mothers’ arms. 

“Nicolette” Sarah asked urgently “Have you seen Nicolette?” 

“She was behind us” Carl said as he hugged his mother. 

Sarah looked up and started to run again. 

“Sarah, wait!” she heard Glenn that didn’t seem far from her. She didn’t have to run much when she spotted her little sister looking behind at something behind a bush. 

“What the hell is wrong with you?!” exclaimed Sarah as she grabbed her sister. 

“Don’t yell” Nicki said. 

“You were not supposed to be out here” Sarah said with a panicked voice “That is why we put there the wire!” 

“There’s a walker!” Nicki said making her sister stop as the men arrived running. 

“Walker? Where?” asked Rick. 

“A few meters in that direction” explained Nicki pointing her finger. They all started running and Sarah had noticed she had gone too just when she saw the walker. 

It had been weeks since the last time she had seen one. And now here it was, knelt down eating a dead deer. He hadn’t even noticed them until the men started to attack him. They were kicking him and hitting him what they had, but it was finally over when Dale chopped off its head. Sarah put a hand on her mouth feeling slightly sick for a moment. The rotten corpse and the head on the ground was really not a sight she was eager to see. 

“It's the first one we've had up here” said Dale out of breath “They never come this   
far up the mountain” 

“Well, they're running out of food in the city, that's what” Jim’s comment made her shiver. If that one was here, maybe others would have come. Sarah turned to look at Andrea and Amy that were right next to her, before turning to Nicolette that was watching the scene too. She was so grounded for running that far from the camp. 

Suddenly they heard something moving behind the bushes. Sarah quickly took her sister and put her behind herself as the men all raised their weapons towards the direction of the noise. 

Was it a walker? Another? 

But then Daryl Dixon appeared looking at them strangely seeing all the weapons pointed against him. But then his gaze fell on the deer. 

“Son of a bitch” he exclaimed getting closer “That's my deer!” they all looked at each other thinking about the talk that they soon would have to have with the man. 

“Look at it” Daryl kept saying before starting to kick the walker corpse “All gnawed on by this filthy, disease-bearing, motherless poxy bastard!” 

“Calm down, son. That's not helping” Dale had just finished to say the sentence when Daryl charged towards him. 

“What do you know about it, old man?” Daryl exclaimed glaring Dale up and down “Why don't you take that stupid hat and go back to "On Golden Pond?” 

That would not be an easy talk at all. 

“I've been tracking this deer for miles. Gonna drag it back to camp, cook us up some venison” that was a shame they mostly ate squirrels. It would have been nice to have another kind of meat. 

“What do you think? Do you think we can cut around this chewed up part right here?” he asked pointing at the part the walker had bitten. 

“I wouldn’t risk that” Shane said. 

Daryl sighed 

“That's a damn shame” then he gestured at something on his back “I got some squirrel. About a dozen or so. That'll have to do.” 

They were all looking at him with anticipation, Daryl must have sensed something because he was looking as much strangely at how they were all looking at him. 

Suddenly the head started moving again. Sarah looked at it with wide eyes as Amy and Andrea walked away. 

“Come on, people. What the hell?” Daryl said before shooting an arrow straight in to the center of the head, making it finally stop “It's gotta be the brain. Don't y'all know nothing?” he then started to walk away. 

As he passed get pass next to Sarah, he had noticed her staring and he frowned a little before walking away. 

“Someone must tell him something” She said as Glenn stopped next to her. 

“Yeah... You wanna try?” he asked making Sarah glare at him before all of them started to walk back towards the camp. 

“Am I in trouble?” asked Nicki sticking closer to her sister. 

“Oh yes you are” Sarah said glaring at her sister. 

“We didn’t want to go far” Nicki said looking down “I thought that it couldn’t be that bad” 

“You’ve got a responsibility" said Sarah making her sister stop “On yourself and on those children. You have to think. Something bad could have happened. To you or to one of them” 

Nicki nodded her head at Sarah’s words. 

“I hadn’t thought about that” she said “I’m going to apologize to Lori and Carol. I’ll be more careful next time” 

Sarah nodded her head looking down at her sister. 

“Alright” 

“Daryl, just slow up a bit. I need to talk to you” Shane’s voice made them turn towards the camp before walking faster to catch up with the others. 

“’Bout what?” Asked Daryl with a frown. 

“About Merle” Shane answered with his hands on his hips “There was a... There was a problem in Atlanta” 

Sarah noticed Daryl looked down biting his lips before speaking again. 

“He dead?” 

“We're not sure” Shane’s answer made Daryl raise his voice. 

“He either is or he ain't!” 

Sarah looked at Glenn who had a worried look on his face. 

“No easy way to say this, so I'll just say it” Rick said walking closer to the two man. 

“Who are you?” asked Daryl in an aggressive tone. 

“Rick Grimes” 

“Rick Grimes” Daryl repeated “You got something you wanna tell me?” 

“Your brother was a danger to us all” Rick started to explain “So, I handcuffed him on a roof, hooked him to a piece of metal. He's still there” 

Daryl took some step back walking angrily. 

“Hold on. Let me process this” he said before turning to Rick “You're saying you handcuffed my brother to a roof and you left him there?!” he yelled making Sarah shiver. 

Dary was unpredictable. It was the first time she had heard him talk that much, no one could really know what he was capable of. But of something she was sure, he really cared about his brother that was easy to see. 

As Rick nodded his head Daryl throw at him the squirrels that were hanging on his shoulder, before trying to launch himself towards the man, but luckily Shane pushed him away. They were all there gasping when Daryl took his knife. He started to attack Rick who luckily managed to avoid the blade and as Shane helped too, they had been able to stop Daryl from his assault. 

Once they had finally being able to stop him, Rick knelt to speak to him. 

“I'd like to have a calm discussion on this topic” he said “Do you think we can manage that?” Daryl just grunted still blocked by Shane, that hold seemed to hurt him. 

“Do you think we can manage that?” Rick asked again, before Shane finally let him go, pushing him to the ground. 

Daryl shouldn’t have attacked, but Sarah really felt sorry for him. That wasn’t an easy information, the one they were giving him. She looked down at her sister. She didn’t know what she would have done. She didn’t want to think about lose Nicolette, not even for a moment. 

“What I did was not on a whim” Rick started explain as Daryl stood knelt on the ground “Your brother does not work and play well with others” 

“It's not Rick's fault” T-Dog intervened “I had the key. I dropped it” 

“You couldn't pick it up?” Daryl asked panting. 

“Well, I dropped it in a drain” T-Dog explained. 

Daryl sighed before slowly getting up walking towards T-Dog. 

“If it's supposed to make me feel better, it don't” 

“Well, maybe this will” T-Dog said again “Look, I chained the door to the roof, so the geeks couldn't get at him. With a padlock” 

“It's gotta count for something.” Rick said. 

Sarah observed Daryl wiping his eyes with his hand. Was he crying? Was he trying to be strong? She had never seen him like that. She really felt for him. 

“Hell with all y'all!” he yelled “Just tell me where he is, so's I can go get ‘im” 

“You can’t go alone, it’s too dangerous” Sarah found herself saying before she could stop herself, making everyone look in her direction. Daryl looked at her too with an angry glare making her bit her lips. Maybe she should have shut up. 

“But he is not going alone” Lori suddenly spoke looking at her husband “He’ll show you. Isn’t it right?” 

Rick observed her for a moment before nodding his head. 

“I’m going back”. 

The camp had gone quiet, Lori looked pensive knowing that her husband would go back to Atlanta. Everyone seemed waiting for something. But no one really knew what. 

Nicki was set down next to Andrea and Amy. T-Dog was talking to Glenn as Daryl was walking around with his arrows in hand. As for Sarah she decided that she needed a distraction from everything that had happened so, she went next to Dale and Jim keeping observing them trying to fix the RV. 

“The pieces of the car were useless?” she asked observing Jim’s every movement. 

“They are too small” he said “But it was worth a shot” 

“Do you like cars?” asked Dale. 

“I find fascinated that all those pieces are able to create a complex system” Sarah said “And if one single of that pieces doesn’t work, it compromises everything. I see it very human like” 

She believed in that even more. 

They needed every single one of them to survive. No one was useless, even if it seemed doing less than others. All of them were important and necessary. Maybe even Merle Dixon. 

“Could you throw me a bone here, man? Could you just tell me why?” Shane’s voice made them turn as he and Rick stopped in the middle of the camp. 

“Why would you risk your life for a douche bag like Merle Dixon?” Sarah’s eyes went to Daryl who clearly wasn’t pleased by what Shane was saying. 

“Hey, choose your words more carefully” he warned and for a second, she was afraid that they would start fighting again. 

“No, I did. Douche bag's what I meant. Merle Dixon...” Shane spatted glaring at Daryl “The guy wouldn't give you a glass of water if you were dying of thirst” 

“I can't let a man die of thirst... me” Rick argued back “Thirst and exposure. We left him like an animal caught in a trap. That's no way for anything to die, let alone a human being.” 

They all looked at each other. It was easy for Rick that didn’t knew Merle. They did and they all hated him. 

Shane was right, Merle Dixon wouldn’t have cared if one of them was in his place, so risking somebody life for someone like that wasn’t worth it. 

But on the other hand, Rick wasn’t wrong. Merle was a person; they couldn’t leave him behind... not like that. 

“So, you and Daryl, that's your big plan?” Lori said glaring at Rick who turned to Glenn. Sarah closed her eyes taking a breath as Rick explained why he wanted Glenn with him for this. 

Glenn was the best among them in moving around the city. Like he did when he got Sarah, Nicolette and himself out when they first met and apparently even during the few runs, he has been in. 

“It's not fair of me to ask...I know that. But I'd feel a lot better with you along” Rick said before gesturing towards Lori “I know she would too” the poor woman was slightly shaking; it could have been for fear or maybe anger. 

Sarah noticed Glenn looking in her direction for a moment before nodding his head towards Rick. 

“That's just great. Now you're gonna risk three men, huh?” Sarah heard Shane ask while she walked towards Glenn. 

“Are you sure about this?” she asked making him nod his head quietly. 

Glenn was selfless, that she had understood, but she just hoped he didn’t feel like he had no other choice. It was up to him. 

“Four” said T-Dog at some point. Everyone looked at him with wide eyes, while Daryl scoffed. 

“My day just gets better and better, don't it?” at his words Sarah couldn’t help but roll her eyes. 

“What?” Daryl growled making her turn towards him. 

“Can’t you be a little nicer?” Sarah said as he glared at her “He is trying to help you” 

“And I don’t see anybody else here stepping up to save your brother’s cracker ass” Daryl’s eyes moved from Sarah to T-Dog before focusing on his arrows. 

“Why you?” 

“You wouldn't even begin to understand” Said T-Dog “You don't speak my language” 

Sarah glared at Daryl for a moment before Glenn nudged her gesturing to move aside. 

In the camp the conversation kept going. Apparently, Rick had more than one reason to get back in Atlanta. He got weapons in a bag that he had left in the city. Weapons that they needed if the walkers were really moving away from the Atlanta. And he even had to get back a walkie-talkie to warn someone to not fall in the same trap he did. 

“Sure you have everything?” asked Sarah as Glenn was putting his backpack on his shoulders. 

“Yeah” he said “There’s not much that I need anyway” Sarah smiled a bit sadly at him, she didn’t want for Glenn or the others to die. Not even Daryl. 

“I’ve got some blueberries” Sarah said pulling out of her bag a napkin that he gladly took from her hands. 

“Thank you, Sarah” 

“It’ll be fine” she said putting a hand on his shoulder “It will” 

Glenn smiled a little, nodding his head. 

As her friend went to get ready for leaving, Sarah went over to Rick and T-Dog to give them their blueberries then she turned towards Daryl Dixon, that was putting his crossbow over his shoulder. She took a breath before walking towards him. 

“Hey” she said making him turn with a suspicious frown. He didn’t say anything he just observed her silently. 

“Yeah... well” she said opening her bag to take out another napkin with blueberries in it “I’ve got some blueberries” as she spoke Daryl looked from her to her hands still not talking. 

“Nicki and I found them” she kept saying since he wouldn’t move “Come on, take them” she tried again. 

“Why?” he asked with a frown. 

“You can get hungry” she said shaking slightly her shoulders “Moreover, maybe Merle could use some” Daryl frowned never disappeared. 

“Don need yar pity” he said. 

“It’s not pity” she answered. 

“What do ya wan’ then?” he asked not too nicely. 

“We’re all humans, even your brother” she answered “From what I’m seeing there are not many of us left. It’s right to be there for each other” 

Daryl observed her again, studying her, searching for something and suddenly he snatched the napkin from her hand. 

“I own you nothin’” Daryl said before moving past her to walk away.


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6 

NICOLETTE 

As Rick, Glenn, T-Dog and Daryl had left, the camp had soon come back at the usual routine, trying to get useful even just for a bit. 

Shane didn’t seem very happy about what had happened with Rick and so did Lori. Nicki had seen her walk towards her tent where probably Carl was laying. It wasn’t easy to understand what he was thinking about, no matter how much Nicki had observed him. 

As for Sarah, she was back with Dale and Jim to try and learn more about mechanics. It was a new passion of her apparently. 

Nicki was sitting on the ground enjoying the wind blowing against her face. At some point she had seen Sophia walking past her with Morales’ children waving at her and silently she did the same. 

“Hey, Nicki!” Amy’s voice made the girl turn her head “What are you up to?” 

“Looking the clouds” that was all she could do apparently, that and look after running children. 

“I know...” she said looking behind her before returning her gaze towards Nicki. 

“I’m sure it’s not the best of the ideas” Amy said “But what about you help us with the laundry?” 

Amy was right, that wasn’t the best of the ideas... but at least it was something she could do. Days ran by very slowly, even too slowly. She often couldn’t wait to go to sleep, but then she remembered it would have started all over again. 

“Alright” Nicki answered getting up. 

Amy told her to go and grab whatever Nicki and Sarah had to wash so that they would have meet down at the lake. 

Nicki walked past the RV where Sarah was talking with Dale and when she noticed her passing by, she called her. 

“Do you need something to wash?” asked Nicki looking at her sister. 

“Always” answered Sarah “Where are you going?” 

“Down the lake” Nicki explained “Amy asked for me to help her and the other with laundry” 

“Alright” said Sarah nodding her head “I put the dirty clothes inside a plastic bag, stay close to Amy. Don’t go walking around” 

“Ok” Nicki said walking towards their tent. 

Once she was inside, she moved the sleeping bags aside to try and find the plastic bag. It wasn’t difficult, the two of them had nothing of theirs. They had left everything inside the taxi back in Atlanta. What they had had been given from Amy or Andrea, even Lori. Carol had tried given Nicki one of Sophia’s shirt, but they wouldn’t fit. Luckly Glenn had brought them back some shirts the last time he went to the city, so maybe now they had something of theirs after all. 

As she walked out of the tent, Nicki spotted Carl walking by and when he noticed her, the boy stopped. 

“Hey” 

“Hey” she said with the plastic bag in her hand. 

“Where are you going?” Carl asked eyeing her. 

“You are an inquisitive one. Must have got that from your father, since he is a cop” she said, but he just glared at her a bit annoyed. 

“Gotta do laundry” she said after taking a breath “And you have nothing to do?” 

Carl scrolled his shoulders. 

“My mum went to search some dry wood” he said turning his gaze in another direction. He usually acted all cold, but she had seen him run happily in his father’s arms. 

“Worried about your father?” she asked observing him. 

“No” when he turned towards her, Nicki was surprised since it didn’t seem Carl was faking it “He came back once, when we thought he was dead. I know he will come back” 

Nicki observed him impressed. 

“Hey bud, Nicolette” they both turned toward Shane who was walking towards them “What are you two doing?” 

“Nothing” said Carl. Shane looked at them both before talk again. 

“What about we go and catch those frogs?” 

“Frogs?” Nicki asked with her brows raised. 

“Shane is going to teach me how to catch them” Carl said. 

“Are we going to eat them too?” said Nicki making Shane snort. 

“Why are you all so grossed about it?” 

“Mum too” said Carl, but Nicki scrolled her shoulders. 

“I ate squirrels” she said “I think I’ve already passed my limit to become picky now” Shane nodded his head. 

“Do you want to join?” 

“Don’t worry” she said showing him the plastic bag “Already got something to do. Have fun” 

And they were having fun for sure; Shane was with his feet in the water as Carl was in front of him with a net in his hands. The man was suddenly moving water around creating sprayers that flew all around. Carl was laughing loudly as Shane got soaked wet. 

“I'm beginning to question the division of labor here” Nicki heard Jacqui said as she and Andrea set down next to her, Amy and Carol. 

“They're coming, little man! Get 'em! Get that net in there and get 'em!” Nicki turned again towards Shane and Carl “What have you got, bad boy? What do you got? What do you got?” 

Carl pulled out the net from the water. 

“Dirt” he said with a little snort that made Nicki chuckle. 

“Can someone explain to me how the women wound up doing all the Hattie McDaniel work?” asked Jacqui. 

“The world ended” said Amy “Didn’t get the memo?” 

“It's just the way it is” said Carol looking down. 

Nicki observed them before speaking. 

“I rather not walk around in dirty cloths” she said as she was rubbing her shirt to try and clean it before her eyes fell on Ed set not far from them, looking at them like some creepy jailer “Even if...” 

That man had always made her uneasy. She had seen how much Carol was scared of him; how much Sophia was scared of him. 

“I do miss my Maytag” Carol said as some point after letting out a breath. 

“I miss my Benz” said Andrea “My sat nav” 

“I miss my coffeemaker with that dual-drip filter and built-in grinder, honey” said Jaqui with a smirk. 

“My computer” said Amy “And texting” 

“I miss my room” said Nicki “My bow” 

And my parents... 

“I miss my vibrator” at Andrea’s words Nicki dropped the t-shirt she had in her hands. 

“Me too” when Carol spoke everyone start to laugh and even Nicki let out small chuckles blushing slightly. 

“You’re maybe far too young, Nicki” said Andrea between the laughter. 

“Teenagers are the worst” said Nicki chuckling “We know far too much” 

“What's so funny?” at Ed’s voice everyone stopped laughing, the air suddenly become very tense as Nicki’s eyes turned towards Carol who seemed once again scared. 

“Just swapping war stories, Ed” Nicki heard Andrea say as the girl turned to glare at Ed. Nicki observed Ed standing there with his cigarette between his fingers. He was really a douchebag, inside and out. 

“What are you looking at?” Ed spatted at her sa she coolly continued rubbing the t-shirt. 

“You smoke too much” she said making Amy and Carol look at her. 

“And who are you to talk?” Ed growled again 

“Someone who don’t want to smell smoke all the time” he was about to same something else when Andrea turned towards the man. 

“Problem, Ed?” she asked. 

“Nothin' that concerns you” Ed answered back “And you ought to focus on your work. And make little miss over there to learn her place” Nicki heard Andrea huffs. 

They worked in silence for some more, with Ed constantly observing them like he was some kind of boss or something. Nicki was getting nervous, she didn’t like to be stared at, she didn’t like feeling stressed. And that must have been something that they were all thinking because Andrea suddenly got up. 

“Ed, tell you what” she said “You don't like how your laundry is done, you are welcome to pitch in and do it yourself. Here” as Andrea threw him the shirt she had in her hands; Ed threw that back aggressively at Andrea making they all stand up. 

“Ain't my job, missy.” he spatted. 

“Andrea, don't” Amy said seeing her sister getting angry. 

“What is your job, Ed?” asked the woman. 

“Told you, sitting on his ass smoking cigarettes” Nicki said before Ed turned to her. 

“You don’t have to talk!” he yelled as Jacqui put a hand around Nicki shoulders that just glared at him. 

“Hey, you are talking to me” said Andrea putting herself in between Ed and the others. 

“I ain't listening to some uppity smart-mouthed bitch. Tell you what” Ed said before turning to Carol “Come on. Let's go.” 

“I don't think she needs to go anywhere with you, Ed” Andrea said with a challenging look. 

“And I say it's none of your business. Come on now.” Ed exclaimed towards Carol that was walking slowly towards her husband. As the woman passed by them, they all tried to stop her from going any further but she just sadly looked down telling them that it was ok. 

“Andrea, please” Carol said “It doesn't matter” 

“Hey, don't think I won't knock you on your ass just 'cause you're some college-educated cooze, All right?” Ed said making them all gasp “Now you come on now or you gonna regret it later” Nicki shacked her head as Jacqui still hugged her close. 

“So, she can show up with fresh bruises later, Ed?” the woman said. 

“This ain't none of y'all's business” Ed said starting to get really angry “You don't want to keep prodding the bull here, okay? Now I am done talking. Come on” 

Everything started in the blink of an eye. They were all trying to stop Carol from moving forward when Ed slapped her across the face. Immediately Andrea started to push Ed as Amy and Nicki brought Carol closer to them. When the man was about to hit Andrea, he suddenly was pulled back harshly. Nicki looked from behind Jacqui to see Shane stranding Ed and punching him right in the face with such force to make him bleeding. The noise of the fists against Ed’s face made Nicki shiver, that was a bastard but if Shane kept that up, he would have killed him. 

“Shane, stop!” Andrea exclaimed as Carol was pleading him too. Nicki looked towards Carol; from her lips a trickle of blood had appeared after the slap Ed had given her and Nicki couldn’t help but wonder how many times that could have happened. How many times he had hurt her and then made her feel like it was her fault. She turned again towards Shane who was still punching Ed; maybe Carol and Sophia would have been better off without him. Maybe Shane didn’t have to stop. 

Nicolette shivered at what she had just thought. 

It wasn’t right, was it? 

Shane had to stop, hadn’t he? 

Suddenly the cop took Ed by the face hissing in his face “You put your hands on your wife, your little girl or anybody else in this camp one more time, I will not stop next time. Do you hear me? Do you hear me?!” he yelled before giving some more punches “I'll beat you to death, Ed. I'll beat you to death!” 

When Shane stood up, Carol ran away from Amy’s grip to run towards her husband crying and apologizing. Nicolette observed them, how he was moaning in pain as she tried to help him. 

Nicki was feeling nothing for him, just disgust and she hoped that maybe this had scared him as much as he had terrorized Carol and Sophia for all that time.


End file.
